After narrowly losing to the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday, Donovan's postgame press conference had a much different tone than usual.
The last month and a half has felt like a nightmare that the Bulls just can't wake up from. Chicago has dropped 15 of its last 20 games, with a significant portion of those coming against the worst teams in the NBA, and is now tied for 10th in the Eastern Conference.
By defeating the Hornets on Friday, the Bulls snapped their longest losing streak in over five years. The team's perseverance in rallying from a 13-point deficit hinted that the Bulls could be ready to chalk their seven-game skid up to a 'tough break,' but Chicago's brutal shooting performance in a loss to the Pelicans on Sunday delayed any hopes of a quick turnaround.
When the dust settled in the United Center, head coach Billy Donovan was surprisingly level-headed. The 114-104 defeat to New Orleans was Chicago's eighth loss in nine games, but the way the Bulls kept themselves within reach via strong process left Donovan optimistic that the results would follow.
"I felt like we played the right way, I really did," Donovan said. "We didn't shoot the ball well. I'm interested to see what the numbers look like analytically, but I think we had seven or eight corner threes? You're not going to bypass those in the first half. We moved the ball. We generated good shots. We've gotta take those threes. One of the things we talked about is decision-making in the paint, where we've had a hard time, at times, finishing or getting shots blocked, or we settle for those rim paint shots. For us, they're a 44% shot. I thought we did a lot of really good things in terms of ball movement."
The Bulls attempted a whopping 49 three-pointers against the Pelicans, their third-highest total of the season. However, just nine of those shots found the bottom of the net, a measley 26.5%.
That's not a target the Bulls should be striving for each game, but Chicago's attempts at the rim have not been an efficient shot either this season. It may be more worth it for the Bulls, which rank second in the NBA in drives per game, to kick the ball out to a potential shooter more often instead of trying a contested floater.
Donovan believes that the team finding its rhythm will help with more accurate decision-making, better passing and more consistent looks from deep. Chicago has spent much of the season without Coby White and Zach Collins, along with a rotating supporting cast on the wings. Improved chemistry and consistency could make the Bulls' playstyle more tenable in the long term.
Sunday's effort, which broke the Bulls' recent trend of defensive collapses, could also be a sign of better things to come.
"We're starting to get guys back, hopefully Ayo [Dosunmu] can come back next game, but we haven't played whole," Donovan said. "The shot creation or generation during that stretch of injuries, in my opinion, was totally unsustainable. I think that the way we played tonight was a sustainable style because even though we shot the ball incredibly poorly, we gave ourselves a chance. They had 52 points in the first half. I've walked off the floor plenty of times where we've given up 140."
Three weeks ago, the Pelicans scored 74 first-half points en route to a 143-130 win over the Bulls to kick off Chicago's seven-game losing streak. Regardless of whether the defensive output on Sunday was real or a flash in the pan, it was a starting point for Donovan's group, which is finally looking to become whole again.
Even without a star athlete that can take over games in an instant, Donovan believes that the Bulls' shots will eventually fall if his players can consistently generate open looks and buy into a united defensive effort.
"To me, I look at what's sustainable. The Charlotte game, in the first half, was an unsustainable style of play. We had nine turnovers; I think we had nine assists. In the second half, we had 20 assists and we moved the ball and generated better shots. We can control what kind of shots we create and generate for each other. We've got to be a team that's got to generate and create good shots. I'm anxious to see what our potential assists were tonight, what our paint touch numbers were... We just had a really bad shooting night."